Coming Back Home
by XxTheLadyInRedxX
Summary: What happens after Alice decides she's done trying to shed her skin? A visit to FP's trailer opens the door to the past and these two have quite a bit to catch up on.


**I recently started watching Riverdale and was left completely dissatisfied by the lack of scenes between FP and Alice. I feel like there's so much to explore between them, and I could do a little less of Archie and Veronica if it means getting these two some romantic screen time. So I decided to have some fun and wrote up a rough scene that takes place in 2x17 after Alice apologizes to the Serpents for attacking the Southside and then shows up at FP's trailer. **

**xxx**

The knock wasn't expected. Then again, she wasn't either. In the back of his head, though, FP somehow knew – or hoped – that it would be her. After years behind the perfect façade, Alice Smith was finally back from the dead. She didn't say anything, as he stood aside to let her into the trailer. With a soft chuckle to himself, he spit out his gum and closed the door behind them.

"Is this a friendly visit or should I hide the knives?" he asked as she lingered in the kitchen.

"I haven't been fair to you, FP," she started.

"Well, that's an understatement," he said, receiving an icy cold glare only Alice could dish out.

"Why do you have to make things harder than they already are?" she asked.

"Why don't you just let me enjoy the moment?" he asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table. "It's not every day Alice Cooper tells me she's wrong."

Alice couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. Leave it to FP Jones to make her question why she was even there. Then again, she made a promise to herself to right the wrongs. And so she sighed and collected herself for what she was about to say.

"You were right. I turned my back on the Southside and where I came from," she said, looking down at the floor. "And I'm sorry."

Alice wasn't sure why he was still looking at her expectantly. It's not as if the words didn't come out of her mouth. She tried her best to bite her tongue when all she wanted was to lecture him.

"That's it?" he asked. "That's all I get?"

A slow rage started building in Alice's chest that only FP had the ability to start. After all these years, his words still pushed her buttons.

"What do you want me to say?" she started, trying her best to keep calm, but the 'cool' she was so used to keeping usually vanished anytime he was around. "That I spent these last years blaming the Serpents for destroying everything good in Riverdale. Telling everyone that the Southside was the cause of everything that was wrong in our town? For everything that was wrong in _me_? Because deep down I knew it was easier to blame them than to deal with the truth? That I'm…"

"Alice.."

"I didn't want to be myself anymore, FP," she said, looking up to catch his eye. He felt a jolt of guilt as he watched her eyes start to brim with tears. "I couldn't. Not after everything that happened. Between us…between the.." Alice caught herself, gave a slight shake to her head and tried to refocus. "I thought my life would be better if I was someone else. Someone completely different. Someone I thought was – or was desperately trying to be – perfect." The soft laugh she gave had no humor, but masked a pain FP knew she had been trying to keep contained since they were young. "Perfect. I was far from it, wasn't I? I kept up appearances and created these expectations for myself and for my family…and I slowly started to lose sight of the important things in life. And I guess, now I'm paying for those mistakes.

"I thought this new identity would make my life so much easier, but it's only made it hell. And if it weren't for the girls, FP – if it weren't for Betty – oh God, I don't know what I'd do-"

The calm had officially broke and Alice put a hand to her mouth as if trying to stop the emotions from gushing out of her. Nothing was worse than crying in front of him. He stood to comfort her, but she jerked and turned away. As he watched her shoulders shake from her silent sobs, he knew – nothing was worse than making her cry.

"Hey," he said, softly. "You did what you had to do."

"That doesn't excuse what I did to you. What I did to all of you," she said with heavy breaths.

"Alice…look at me," he said, pulling her arm so that she'd face him. "Look at me." Alice sniffed and looked up. A pair of hauntingly blue eyes, usually staring daggers at him, was now vulnerable and begging for an end to the sadness. "There is nothing to apologize for."

Alice quietly shook, her tears dripping down her eyes as FP held her. He couldn't remember the last time he was able to do this. To be in the same room as her without getting an earful.

"You must hate me," she muffled into his shoulder.

"I could never hate you, Alice," he said. "I…"

Alice slowly lifted her head and pulled away from him.

"You?" she asked.

"I…" he started again, looking into her eyes. He lifted his hands to hold her face and wiped a tear away with his thumb. She sniffled as his thumb caressed her cheek. His lips touched hers before either of them could say anything. A moment of reciprocation was all she gave before pushing him away, as if suddenly electrocuted.

"I can't. I can't do this," she said, leaning against the table and frantically looking around.

"Why not?" he said.

"I'm married, FP. I have a husband."

"Hal? The guy you kicked out of the house, what, twice now?"

"He's still my husband."

"He doesn't deserve you."

"And what? _You_ do?"

"I – maybe."

"Maybe?" she said with a dark laugh that made FP regret the words that had come out of his mouth. "This is exactly why. FP Jones can never commit. You don't even know what you want."

"I want _you_, Alice!" he said. "I've always wanted _you_."

"Well, you did a great job of showing it," she said, grabbing her purse to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"I've said what I came here to say. Now, I'm leaving - before we make anymore mistakes."

"No, you're not," he said, holding the door shut as she tried to pull it open.

"Move," she said.

"You think I can't commit, but you're the one always running away from her problems," he said.

"FP, if you don't let me out, so help me God, I will pull the pepper spray out of my purse."

"Fine, you want to leave? Leave! But don't blame all our problems on me, when I'm the only one trying."

"Trying _what_?" she said. "What is it that you're trying to do?"

He knew he shouldn't have paused. He knew he should have told her what he'd held down for the last twenty or so years. But it was instinct to hide it from her. And so he stared at her, mouth open, trying to find the words that didn't come so easily.

"That's what I thought," she said, turning the doorknob to leave.

"I love you, Alice," he said, looking down at her.

She took a moment before releasing the doorknob. The expression she had when she looked up at him was one he'd never seen before.

"What did you say to me?" she said.

"It's taken me all of these years to admit it, but I do. I love you," he said. "I always have. And yes, I wasn't always able to show it and that has cost us. But I don't want anymore years of regret for not telling you how I really feel."

It was in this moment, FP realized a silent Alice was far more terrifying than one that wouldn't stop yelling at him.

"Do you expect me to swoon?" she said, in a voice he wasn't expecting.

"What?" he said taken aback.

"Should I go weak at the knees? Should I faint?" she asked, stepping closer and closer to him with menace in her eyes. "Is that what a girl should do when FP Jones says he loves her? Should I be over the moon?"

"You are unbelievable, do you know that?"

"I better be if FP Jones deems we worthy enough to-"

He closed the space between them before the words could slip her mouth and pinned both her arms to the door.

"You always talked too much," he breathed.

"Well?" she said, challenging him with her eyes. "What are you going to do to shut me up?"

She could feel his grin even after he pressed his lips against hers. The embers that had for so long been sitting in anticipation were suddenly bursting into flame and Alice didn't want it to stop – didn't care how it went against everything she had built for herself. His hands glided down her body, remembering every curve as if he had never forgotten how to touch her. He pulled away and she felt a shiver down her spine as he breathed heavily, pressing his forehead against hers. His hands were at her lower back, fingers slowly tugging at her jeans.

"Learned any new moves over the years or are you just going to wait for me to do all of the work?" she said.

"Can you make it to the bedroom?" he asked.

"Can _you_?"

His laugh almost came out as a growl as he picked her up from behind her knees, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist. His facial hair tickled her neck as his teeth softly nibbled at her collarbone. Her soft gasps left him desperate and wanting. It was a short distance to the bedroom and before she knew it, she was on her back. As he climbed on top of her, Alice Cooper could feel herself turning back into a teenager, heart pounding at the thought of FP Jones so close in proximity to her. Leaving trails of kisses down her thigh. Twisting her hair around his fingers. His bare skin on hers. It was like they had never graduated. It was like she was finally home.


End file.
